Insurance ??

[Ray Davis]

I see only one other post here on insurance. I have a 93 Country Coach, which should be valued in the $175k range. Currently I'm insured via AAA, which only charged me $600 year year. I thought that was pretty good, however it's really an automobile policy, and probably won't cover things like personal property, the internet satellite system I paid an arm and leg for etc.

So, I checked with Camping World, they use GMAC and supposedly specialize in RV policies. They are having a real hard time evaluating my coach for purposes of a quote. They try to compare to today's coaches. Is it like the Infinity, or the Concept? they ask.

But even more, and what's prompting this coach is adding another driver. I'm flying back to the east coast (from CA) this summer on business. My neighbor is going to use my coach for 1 month, and meet me in New Jersey, where my wife and I will drive back cross country for our vacation.

I want to add my neighbor as a driver to my policy to make sure there are no issues, should there be a problem while he drives it. He is also purchasing a Good Sam Emergency Road membership, KOA memberships etc, whatever he needs to take a month vacation.

AAA said no problem to add another driver and it ended up costing about $25 per month to do that.

The Camping World rep has basically said no, you cannot add another driver. If they drive your vehicle only a little bit, and not a lot of days, then they can drive it without policy change. But, since I indicated a time of 30 days going 3500 milles, they indicated they could not add my neighbor as a driver.

Now, while I was typing this Camping World just called back, and readjusted their numbers of my quote. It was about $700/year, and it just got changed to around $1500/year, because they wanted a price new, for their input. They used a new price of $498k, which I'm guessing is reasonable for a 93 CC? I guess their original quote had a price new of $150k, and they would depreciate from there??

Anyway, I'm looking for a good company that writes motorhome policies, and is familiar with older Prevost conversions. Preferrably one who will let me add an additional (mature/retired) driver to the policy.

Any help is appreciated.

Ray

[MangoMike]

Hi Ray,

I use Garden City Insurance in Montana ( Kieth Nelson
866.444.1084) They are familiar w/ the Prevost. I have a '97 Liberty that is insured for replacement cost (equal to what the purchase price was). Policy runs $1440 a year. Call Keith as he is pretty knowledgeable and I'm sure can answer your question about the 2nd driver.

Good Luck

MangoMan

[Ray Davis]

I'm curious if this sounds reasonable. Called Keith, and he gave me a quote of $950 per year, for my 93, insured for $175k. He DID indicate it would be no issue to insure the second driver.

[ken&ellen]

Ray, Ellen did extensive reseach for insurance on our '91 Liberty and came up with Twin Peaks out of Fla. Our policy is not a standard auto policy, but specific to our motor coach. We are currently paying $1195 per year. Ken & Ellen

[MangoMike]

Man, I better be calling Keith back.

Actually this sounds about right based on my replacement value of around 300k.

Mike

[Ray Davis]

Thanks Ken, your 91 Liberty would be much closer to mine. So, at the $600 I'm paying now, I'm concerned as to what coverage I'm really getting. I need to nail down AAA to be certain. I guess that's good, as long as I never need the insurance, but bad if something happens.

Mango, originally he gave me a quote for $150k, which was about $800/year. It went up to around $950 for $175k. So, given that's about $150 per $25,000 insured, your figures sound about right for $300k vehicle (I guess??)

He also tried to give me a quote for another company, based out of CA, however, he found that they wouldn't cover Prevost.

Ray

[Ray Davis]

PS: Ken, when you insured your coach, was it for a mutually decided value too? When I tried to do this with GMAC (Camping World) they couldn't do this. They wanted the original price of the coach in '93, and then did a valuation from there. Because the original price of the coach is in excess of $500,000, this put it in some special high price category, even though my coach is 13 years old.

[truk4u]

Ken,
I tried Twin Peaks after you posted the last time and I couldn't even get a call back. Just thought I would let you know oh great music jockey.;) I ended up with Explorrer Insurance and they did a great job at a reasonable price.

Ray, be careful of the limits, they will quote you low limits and the Prevost sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Ray Davis]

Tom, what limits do you run on your coach? Do you have Explorer's number handy? I'll give them a call too.

Is this http://www.explorer-insurance.com/ ??

[Jon Wehrenberg]

From personal experience I can say Explorer and their insurance company, National Interstate did a great job when we had our fire.

They knew Prevost coaches, never batted an eye about towing it for three hours to Jacksonville, and like me, insisted that the repairs were of the highest quality.

I would be afraid of any insurer who thinks a Prevost is a motorhome.

[Ray Davis]

I would be afraid of any insurer who thinks a Prevost is a motorhome.

So in my (admittedly limited) insurance search I've run across two paths. Those who provide auto-insurance (like my AAA coverage), which doesn't address the fact that this vehicle is not an automobile, and those who offer RV insurance, which includes coverage for personal effects, permanently attached items (satellite etc).

What kind of coverage should I be asking for? Am I asking them the wrong questions, or giving the wrong idea?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ray, I'm a babe in the woods as far as the nuances, but having experienced a serious fire in our coach I can say that your insurer needs to understand you do not have a conventional RV. You have a very limited number of locations to repair the damage, the repairs will be expensive and will require that you or your repairer buy parts from Prevost, and that not anybody with a tow truck can get the job done.

We were still smoldering when I had National Interstate on the phone, and they gave me a claim number and agreed the coach had to go direct to Prevost for repairs.

Anybody unfamiliar with our conversions is going to struggle with the concept of doing repairs to the original quality level. As far as contents and other coverage I can't offer anything because no personal property was damaged or lost, and despite $82,000 worth of damage in the engine area we lived in it with every single house system working while we loaded the contents in a rental truck. That all despite every battery having melted. There are pictures of it somewhere on this site or the other one.

[Ray Davis]

Indeed why I am a bit concerned with the coverage I have via AAA. I guess you never know how good things are (or aren't) until you have to exercise the coverage.

Do you think your luck with National Interstate was due to it being a good company understanding your needs, or being lucky you got ahold of a good claims agent?

I looked at the Explorer insurance website, and it talks about "auto insurance". No mention of being able to correctly handle anything beyond that. I'm not saying they can't, just that their publicity wouldn't have led me to their door.

I will try to connect with one of their agents in the morning to compare coverages.

[Just Plain Jeff]

We have continuously had GMAC insurance over the years, originally bought through Camping World. What we have found is that their underwriting and coverage depends upon who you talk to. They seem to be very inconsistent about what they cover and how they price their products. It also matters if you tell them it is a such-and-such conversion or if you tell them it is a Prevost.

Every time we have changed a vehicle, they always send us a Draconian letter saying that the VIN numbers are wrong and that our first born will be stolen during the night. I call them, give them the same numbers back and they are happy as long as they get paid.

It is rather odd that a big company like that would have such sloppy systems. Our 98 cost 1200 Lew Bucks a year for 300K of value. Lord only knows how they have it listed on their books.

One of the differences between rating a Prevost and a production camper is that Prevost coach are rarely totally destroyed (excepting JDUBs recent pictures), since most damage is from glass coverage or minor, well mid-ships 'rubs.' (OK, I was trying to be nice).

I've seen Prevost rebuild severely damaged coaches back to factory specs, which takes forever, but it is less expensive than replacement cost, and that's something that is very tough for insurance companies to figure out. There are relatively few Prevost conversions out there compared to production campers, so most of what they see is not what we have.

I checked with one of the converters, and he said that Gilbert in Florida writes a lot of policies on the new rigs: At $10K/year for a comprehensive policy in excess of $1 million.

That's way out of my league, so you'd have to check with Lew for more information on the high-flyers.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ray,

Explorer is the insurance agent, and National is the insurance company. When I called Explorer they gave me the 800 number for National and it was as easy as that initially. I had my claim number and knew the bus was going to Jacksonville. They had no issue with the SC state police calling a suitable tow truck, and from that point on I was in charge. I sent the first tow truck away because the driver did not impress me as capable and the truck seemed less than capable.

When the bus was sitting on site at Prevost I talked to the adjuster assigned to the coach. He listened to what happened, arranged to look at the coach and along with the Prevost manager authorized the repairs to be made to the standards we three parties agreed were necessary.

One of the keys to my success in getting the proper repairs was the fact the adjuster who was a direct employee of National was he was completely familiar with buses.

[truk4u]

Ray,
The Agent is Fred Staten and his number is 888-774-6778. He's located in Richfield, Ohio. My limits are 300/500/100 and I have an excess Liability policy of 1 million. You just never know in this sue happy world we live in.:(

[rmboies]

[QUOTE=Jon Wehrenberg]Ray,
Explorer is the insurance agent, and National is the insurance company. >>

Ray, we have used the Twin Peaks Agency for all our Prevosts. As Jon stated, the underwriter Twin Peaks uses is National Interstate which is a subsidiary of Great American Assurance Co. We have excellent coverage and pay 1400.00/yr for our 2000 Prevost Vantare. You have an option of going with market value or purchase value for your quote. I would also only work with Tiffany at Twin Peaks--she is extremely knowledgeable on all the ins and outs and is very good at answering all your questions. The number for Twin Peaks is 1-800-507-8467. She recently moved to Pa. from Florida but may be in the process of moving back to Florida. Here is her direct business number in Pa--1-954-495-4051.

Twin Peaks is also able to offer insurance for your tow vehicle which many other companies cannot. This is a new option as of this past year. Jon and others are right, you need to speak with an agency who deals with insuring Prevosts on a daily basis. Good luck!

Debi and the always missing BOB-00 <g>

Debi Boies/CastleRidge Morgan Farm
foals by: World Champion Above Command
Landrum, S.C.
www.castleridgefarm.com
www.doberman911.org

[Ray Davis]

thanks everyone for the replies. Last night while searching the web I found the RV division of Explorer insurance, rather than the auto/home insurance site. I requested a quote, and got a very reasonable quote from them in email this morning.

Tom, interestingly enough, the 877 numbers is the same that you mention for your agent, Fred Staten.

It's a little more than my AAA coverage (not a lot though), and I feel a little more comfortable with this.

Thanks again for the help.
ray

[Just Plain Jeff]

Despite Jon's endorsement of Explorer RV, I called them and discovered that the GMAC policy we had considered the bus as a Class A motor home. That means that, should a claim have been rendered, coverage would have been quite limited.

The companies which Fred represents began as fleet charter bus insurers, and they understand the requirements of insuring a commercial chassis, not like Newell's and so on.

So, we went through the existing policy together and found gaping errors between the GMAC policy and Explorer's offer and went with Explorer. Not only did we find that the cost was comparable, but the coverages provided by Explorer were exceedingly better. And they will also cover the tow vehicle as well. (Rare).

It's worth a phone call to shop and compare.

Our turbo encapsulator was covered as well.

[Ray Davis]

My situation was worse/better depending upon how you look at it. I was covered through AAA, since I had my auto policy through them. It turns out my bus was covered as an AUTO. AAA didn't have any type of RV coverage at all.

I'm with Explorer now, and happy with that!

ray